Endpoint Security – Most Enterprises May Be Wasting Money on Ineffective Solutions

August 10, 2017 | By admin

There are endpoint security solutions but there are better endpoint security solutions.

There are so many endpoint security solutions available that would confuse even a skilled IT security administrator. Each endpoint security solution proclaims itself as the best in the world, however, reality claims otherwise.

In any enterprise network, an endpoint is considered to be the weakest link in the network. This is the reason why cyber criminals target endpoints. Endpoints contain sensitive information – the human factor at the endpoint is a prime vulnerability and the preferred target.

Increasing Complexity of Malware

Over the years and especially in the recent past, the quantum of malware infections as well as their severity has increased sharply. The availability of malware-as-a-service has led to a proliferation of wanna be hackers. Alarmingly, they seem to be increasing successful at this craft. In this dangerous scenario, it is the responsibility of the enterprise to safeguard sensitive information about itself as well as the information of its clients. Thus, they implement an endpoint security solution among other web security measures. Cyber security experts, however, question the effectiveness of these endpoint security solutions in the present era of zero-day exploits and next-gen sophisticated malware attacks.

Surveys reveal that most enterprises have invested in ineffective security solutions. Just the high cost of an endpoint security solution does not mean that it is effective. Furthermore, most of these security solutions do not have an easily manageable endpoint management solution. This makes monitoring and ensuring security very difficult. Surveys further revealed that security patches were not being updated regularly. The administrators also felt that the chances of facing a breach were quite high. The respondents also feared that they were not completely capable of identifying compromised endpoint devices.

The overall cost of a security breach will be quite huge considering lost business, production, loss of data and trust, and litigation costs. The survey revealed that IT security administrators must be provided an effective and easily manageable endpoint management solution to monitor the endpoints and protect these endpoints from malicious threat attacks.

Mitigation Strategies

The enterprise must first choose an endpoint security solution that prevents zero-day exploits and blocks other evolving threats. Then, the enterprise must define policies for mobile device management, security for the network, security for the data, mobile threat management and a simple way for reporting security incidents. For better management of endpoints, IT security administrators must plan and acquire appropriate technology and professional automation tools. Managing manually will be a near impossible task when there are numerous endpoints on different OS platforms.

An effective MDM solution will enable central monitoring of the operating systems, applications and the endpoint security (antivirus) solutions. Patch requirements can be monitored and installed rapidly, which enable rapid response to advanced persistent threats.

Define robust password policies; and if you have to allow BYOD (bring your own device), then restrict the functionalities and apps allowed on these devices. Further, use automated tools to detect and contain insecure endpoints in the event of a breach. When choosing an endpoint security solution choose one that functions based on default-deny approach – where all unknown files are blocked by default. And don’t waste money on ineffective endpoint security solutions.

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